The decline in demand for semiconductor components has not gone unnoticed by suppliers of equipment for their production. If Dutch ASML still somehow manages to avert the drop in sales due to a large order backlog, American Applied Materials has had to admit that its sales in the current quarter will fall to $6.15 billion from $6.52 billion .
Image source: Applied Materials
Analysts as explained Bloomberg, feared a sharper decline in company sales for the current quarter – to $5.97 billion, so Applied Materials’ own assessment of the situation can be seen as more optimistic. The slump in hardware demand from memory manufacturers is being offset to some extent by rising demand in the automotive and industrial automation segments, the company said.
Significantly, demand for chip fabrication equipment using more mature lithography technologies is more stable than for advanced lithography. This can be explained by the fact that more sophisticated technical processes are required in the automotive electronics segment. In addition, Chinese customers are increasing their equipment purchases and access to advanced lithography is being blocked by sanctions from the US and its foreign policy allies.
Applied Materials revenue rose 6.2% to $6.63 billion last quarter. That’s more than the $6.37 billion expected by investors, as the company’s shares fell 1.5 percent after the quarterly results were announced. The demand for memory chips, components for PCs and smartphones remained low in the past quarter, but in the long term there are no doubts about the development and further diversification of the market for semiconductor components, the company said.
It revealed why representatives from Applied Materials were visiting Japan this week. The local consortium Rapidus, which aims to establish contract production of 2nm products in Japan by 2027, needs the support of technology partners, which are exclusively IBM, IMEC and Applied Materials. The Belgian organization IMEC will open a research center in Hokkaido for this purpose and Applied Materials will hire about 800 Japanese engineers to support local customers, increasing the workforce in Japan by about 60%.
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